USA – GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have ordered a recall of their 4 in 1 vaccine called Flulaval Quadrivalent Thimerosal “due to effectiveness issues”. GSK said “the vaccine might cause more harm than good because it is not good enough to protect someone from the current flu strains present in the US.”
EUROPE - It shouldn't really surprise anyone, but it's a bombshell for David Cameron in the middle of the election campaign. Unelected EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker makes clear no treaty changes are even possible until 2019 - two years after the planned referendum. Serious EU renegotiation has now been flatly ruled out.
EUROPE - This week President Francois Hollande assured Germany's Mrs Merkel that the French local election results would make no difference to France’s economic policy despite the poor showing for his party. He confirmed that France would try to stick to the Euro disciplines. In practice France is finding it too difficult to hit the deficit target, but apparently wants to. Meanwhile France and Germany signed up to further joint projects to reinforce the merging of their two economies within the Eurozone and its common framework.
VATICAN - The UN general secretary’s appearance at an upcoming Vatican event promoting a worldwide movement to combat climate change coupled with a pontifical paper calling for the establishment of a global political, economic and financial authority cultivated by the UN has caught the attention of an author who believes the developments support predictions in his 2012 book.
VATICAN - An author who successfully predicted Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation now is suggesting Pope Francis may be a believer in an ancient prophecy that foretells disaster for the Roman Catholic Church. The pope unleashed an international frenzy of speculation when he recently commented, “I have a feeling my pontificate will be brief… It is a vague feeling I have that the Lord chose me for a short mission.”
UK - For all his faults on the subject, at least British Prime Minister David Cameron has talked about Christian persecution in the Muslim world. Barack Obama actually uses and abuses Christianity to shut down the discussion altogether. What a disastrous failure of leadership.
USA - If you are a Bible-believing Christian, there is no place for you in Barack Obama’s version of the US military. Christian service members all over the nation are being disciplined for reading their Bibles, talking about their faith publicly and encouraging others to live a moral lifestyle. And just saying the name of “Jesus” at the wrong place or the wrong time while serving in the military is enough to spark a national controversy.
ISRAEL - Speaking at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime that ruled Germany from 1933 until its World War II defeat in 1945. "As the Nazis strived to trample civilization and replace it with a 'master race' while destroying the Jewish people, so is Iran striving to take over the region and expand further with a declared goal of destroying the Jewish state," he said.
USA - Is the number of volcanic eruptions worldwide increasing? Yes. During the 20th century, there were a total of 3,542 volcanic eruptions globally. That works out to approximately 35 eruptions per year. That may sound like a lot, but according to Volcano Discovery there are 36 volcanoes erupting around the world right now. In other words, the number of volcanoes erupting as you read this article is greater than the 20th century’s yearly average.
USA - What in the world are the elite up to? In recent days, we have learned that the New York Fed is moving a lot of operations to Chicago because of concerns about what a “natural disaster” could do, the federal government is buying 62 million rounds of ammunition commonly used in AR-15 semi-automatic rifles for “training” purposes, and NORAD is moving back into Cheyenne Mountain because it is “EMP-hardened”.
USA - Federal regulators on Wednesday approved an early closure of commercial sardine fishing off Oregon, Washington and California to prevent overfishing. The decision was aimed at saving the West Coast sardine fishery from the kind of collapse that led to the demise of Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck's novel of the same name set in Monterey, California.
USA - As everyone knows by now, the Federal Reserve’s main tool in economic warfare has become hyper low interest rates and, thus, extremely cheap money for large institutions vis-à-vis the controversial reign of QE – quantitative easing. Now, the how-low-can-you-go climate has created negative interest rates, meaning not only that many investments carry no return but that many deposits cost money.
ITALY - Italian police are investigating claims by 100 other asylum seekers that Christian refugees drowned after Muslim migrants threw them overboard. A dozen Christian asylum seekers drowned in the Mediterranean after they were thrown overboard by Muslim migrants in a furious row fueled by “religious hatred” on a smuggler boat sailing from Libya to Italy.
ITALY - Italians are resisting the huge influx of immigrants arriving on their shores, with some politicians calling on supporters to say "no, with every means, to every new arrival". Italians are in growing revolt against the number of migrants arriving on their shores, with more than 10,000 people rescued from the Mediterranean in the past week alone.
GREECE - The Greek finance minister said his country would not continue deception of 'Ponzi austerity' even if this means a showdown with creditors. Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has acknowledged that his country is desperately short of funds, accusing Europe's creditor powers of trying to force his country to its knees by "liquidity asphyxiation".